Yes, Born Yesterday does have a special quality and one I think of as very American: someone who won't allow themselves to be bullied and by staying true to their sense of what is just, finds themselves successful beyond their expectation.

The year 1939 was a good one for Hollywood and so was 1950. Besides "Born Yesterday",1950 saw two other great movies that are wonderfully Amerkun in the converse,demonstrating on one hand, what happens when someone abandons their integrity - becomes a manipulator by ego-stroking or, alternately,is manipulated through ego-stroking. In "Sunset Boulevard", William Holden pays the price for taking the easy road, preying on the ego of faded movie-star Gloria Swanson and Bette Davis is taken for a ride by the flattering fan worship of the delightfully devious and passive-aggressive Anne Baxter in "All about Eve".

The casts of both movies are terrific, Sunset including Eric von Stroheim as the surreptitious ego-stroker, protecting Swanson from reality and in All About Eve, George Sanders as the cynical critic. Marilyn Monroe makes her film debut in Eve as the chorus girl girlfriend of a theatrical producer. Everyone in both movies is great and Sunset especially is beautifully photographed.

If I even accidentally see more than ten minutes of another Star Bores, Harry Plopper or idiotic 2D Marvel frenzy, I shall watch "Seven Samurai", and "The Third Man" on a loop the rest of my life.

Dambusters: Mild mannered scientist /engineer beats the Nazis with giant billiard balls. I can never figure out why I like this so much.

The Artist (2011) Silent AND B&W - surprisingly captivating.

Young Frankenstein: I don't think is probably your taste, but for me an occasional dose of slapstick is a relief. I first saw this in Paris in 1975 called, "Frankenstein Junior" with French subtitles and that was a funny experience in itself.

As soon as I press "Post", I'll think of ten more.

Bambi B

PS: Very sorry to learn recently that our old friend Patrick is no longer with us.

Patrick's departure left a huge void, and the more time passes the more I feel it. He was a real, a true friend, one of the kindest people I have ever met. Generous, funny, witty, all the while suffering from painful and serious illness during his later years.

A smart script by Garson Kanin, on point direction by George Cukor and the solid performances of the triangle of main characters led by Judy Holliday. It's sad that Hollywood lost her at a relatively young age. Who knows what other indelible characters she might have created...